Coyotes' cutting ticket prices?

The Coyotes with a 10-6 record is competing very well considering financial troubles. But decisions arise to whether they should cut ticket prices and whether Phoenix the right economic place for a NHL team. The team hasn't made the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2002 which even makes the die hard fans alittle disappointed. The team filed for bankruptcy back in May which is now owned by the NHL has the lowest attendance rate in the league, averaging 9,500 fans a game, according to ESPN. This is a huge drop from its 14,000 fans in 2009. To add on top of that Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie tryed to buy the team and move it to Hamilton Ontario hoping to revamp the team but was denied by the U.S. bankruptcy court. Sports business experts and Coyotes fans believe Phoenix is less of an NHL market and more of a minor-league hockey market in terms of fans’ demand for tickets and interest in the sport. Phoenix also has a saturated sports market, with four major-league teams, Arizona State University sports, Cactus League and Fall League baseball, two Nascar races and two men’s professional golf tournaments. It is clear that they are going to have to lower there ticket prices to attract new customers and fans back if they ever hope to keep the team alive but that decision is yet to be announced or being taken into serious consideration. Only time will tell.

Adidas hopes that World Cup boost sales

Adidas a German sporting goods maker is hoping to pull sales out of the gutter for the next World Cup. Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said he is looking to 2010, when the soccer World Cup is to be played in South Africa, for a boost in sales. The company reported a third-quarter revenue drop of 7 percent, as sales in its sports-performance division struggled. Herbert said that the reason why for this, is that people aren't spending the same due to the finical crisis. Adidas being the second largest sporting goods manufacturer next to Reebok, is hoping that the soccer frenzy boosts sales. By doing this Adidas hopes to outfit 12 of the teams and is predicting a 1.9 billion dollar boost in sales revenue. For the most part CEO Herbert Hainer is staying optimistic as the World Cup is right around the corner.

The most profitable sports team in the world

In 2005 the Washington Red Skins of the National football league were the most profitable sports team in the world. During this year the team managed to have a total revenues of 287 million dollars with an operating expense of 265 million dollars. The team managed to generate a total profit of 22 million dollars for there owner Daniel Snyder. Snyder purchased the team in 1999 for 750 million dollars. He has since managed to grow the team to have a total value of 1.3 billion dollars. The main move Daniel Snyder made to create such a successful business was in 1999 when he sold 20% of the team for 200 million dollars to expand his Fed-Ex field allowing for more people to view the game, also making it the largest football stadium in the NFL. Now the team has a waiting list of 75000 people to purchase tickets to view a game. There is however an option for the people who do not want to wait on the list, they are allowed to pay a 7500 dollar premium to jump the line for one seat.

The Price of a trophy.

There are many people in the world who's career is devoted to sports. Most if not all of them wish to one day carry the ultimate prize over there heads. But how much is the trophy really worth, cost wise. We can take for example the Stanley Cup of the NHL. Many hockey players all over the world have a different value on the Cup. But what is the real value of the Stanley Cup? Well we can look at its history. First off the Stanley Cup was bought as a decorative cup from London silversmith G.R Collis. It was purchased as a decorative bowl for $48.67 USD by Lord Frederick Stanley. He later decided that he wanted the cup to be more. He decided to award it as a prize for the top amateur hockey club in Canada. It was later given to the NHL to be awarded to the top team in the league. Since then it has been passed through the hands of many different hockey players and has the engravings of many names of the best players in the sport. Today the Cup has had many additions to it, to accommodate all the names that has been added. The cup has not recently been appraised, but is considered a priceless object. It is quite believable thought, that if the cup were to be sold it would sell for millions of dollars.

A Lingerie Football League?

Yes that's right, there is actually a football league in the states where women play 7 on 7 full contact football in rather reveling lingerie. They use hockey helmets instead of the larger and heavier football helmets, and as for their shoulder pads, well lets just say they are custom made for this sport. The rules are basically the same as the indoor leagues with a 50 yard field and four downs. There are no field goals just touchdowns. As of this year the LFL announced that it will have 10 franchises across the US, and the season will run from Sept.4, 2009 to Jan.29, 2010. The first LFL game played was in 2004 during the halftime of the Superbowl. It was a pay-per view event and has been an alternative televising tradition ever since. Because of this past success The LFL officially decided to become a league this year and bring the next generation of indoor football to life; although I'm not sure if men specifically watch this sport for their love of football. Whatever the case the LFL has found a niche in the entertainment market that no other sports league can relate to. As long as men will be men, the league's future looks bright.

Most Profitable Sports Leagues

Now on to the top 5 sports leagues which generated the most in earnings.

#5

National Basketball Association (NBA): Profit of $207 million

According to Forbes.com, the NBA generated about $207 million in 2006, making it the third most profitable of the big four American pro sports. In 2005, NBA sponsors contributed a total of $360 million. Merchandise sales have increased to $2.1 billion. The league is in a six-year, $4.6 billion television deal, with 15% of that cash coming from overseas.

#4

Formula One: Profit of $435 million

Formula One Administration had a pre-tax profits of $435 million and those results sent the circuit fly past the totals racked up in 2004 which was just $320 million on. Expansion in overseas such as Turkey, China and Bahrain were the reason for the improved finances and gain in profit.

#3

Major League Baseball: Profit of $496 million

In 2004, MLB posted an overall operating loss of $57 million. But in 2006, MLB collectively earned a record operating income of $496 million and according to Forbes.com it is second among the big four American sports leagues. This success was due to ticket prices of being only $22 which led to a gain of total of $1.9 billion. Baseball rivalries has been a factor in generating income and and a great example would be the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

#2

English Premier League (EPL): Profit of $513 million


Soccer should be another example of the rich getting even richer, especially in Europe. The English Premier League profits doubled to $513 million next season, vaulting soccer ahead of baseball. The sport’s finances by the advisory firm Deloitte said a new TV deal would bring in an extra $592 million of revenue and other revenue increases could bump the overall profits to $3.5 billion.

#1
















National Football League: Profit of $984.5 million

According to Forbes.com, the operating income of the NFL was $984.5 million in 2005. The average NFL team is worth $898 million and current deals with NBC, FOX, ESPN, and CBS will pay the league an average of more than $3 billion a year over the next five years. A typical NFL team makes about $5 million off merchandise sales and totals to $3.2 billion in 2006.

Least Profitable Sports Leagues

Let's take a look at the top 5 sport leagues which generates the least amount of earnings ever since it has been established.

#5

Professional Bowlers Association (PBA): Loss of $30 million

In the late 1990s, PBA was struggling to survive in the sports industry and had to look for alternatives to keep the ball rolling. In 2000, pro bowling received help from three former Microsoft executives who bought the PBA in hopes of not only to generate profit, but also to create a spark in the Bowling industry once again. The investent has yet to pay off, and the owners lost about $30 million during their six year ownership.

#4

Xtreme Football League (XFL): Loss of $46.9 million

When XFL made it's first apperance in the world of sports, many people tuned into it just because it was under the operations of Vince McMahon. McMahon well known for his ownership of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) tried to provide his own version of the NFL. However it didn't succeed, and as a result, attendance was always below the 10% targeted goal and the loss of the $46.9 million forced the XFL to close it's short-lived fiasco.

#3

Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA): Loss of $100 million

WUSA was founded in 2001 and was the world's first league of full-time pro women's soccer players. It commenced with eight teams in April 2001 but however, the league suspended operations on September 15, 2003, at the end of its third season. The failure was reflected on the tv ratings and attendance never met it's expectations. The expenses were much greater than the leagues budget of $40 million for a five-year period. Team owners in WUSA had to invest more than $100 million to fund the league.

#2

Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA): Loss of $120 million

The WNBA has been around for more than 10 years, but it has never been able to achieve it's goals of attracting viewers and investors. Its chief financial backer is the NBA, which invests $12 million into the WNBA every year. The league started with eight teams, another eight entered, three clubs disbanded, two moved to different locations, and lastly one team was added.

#1

Major League Soccer (MLS): Loss of $350 million

In November 2004, Adidas announced that it would invest $100 million into MLS over a 10-year period to become the league's key sponsor. There are a total of 15 teams in the league which are divided into Eastern and Western conferences. Western conference consisted of 8 teams and Eastern has 7. According to a 2004 article in BusinessWeek MLS has lost more than $350 million since opening day in 1996. In 2004, BusinessWeek reported that just one team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, had ever made an operating profit as of now.

Rugby Voted Into The 2016 Summer Olympics

Sevens rugby has finally been confirmed by the IOC(international Olympic committee) to have Rugby part of the Rio-da Jenaro 2016 summer Olympic games which is a historical event in the sport of rugby. Since rugby was cut from the Olympics in 1924 in the full 15- man version of the game but it has now finally returned to the Olympics in a seven-a-side version of the game which means that's each team has 7 players. Since the cut of rugby many countries have fought to bring the sport back with no luck. The international Ruby Football Board(IRB) with the support of Italy in 1960, the Soviet Union in in 1980 and south Korea in 1988 all fought to bring the sport back into the Olympics. Each attempt failed until 1994 when Vernon Pugh of Wales was elected Chairman of the IRB made his full effort to bring back rugby. The IRB petitioned to the IOC to tell them that rugby has always had a rich heritage being previously involved in the Olympics before and would like to see it re-enter into the games. Finally the IOC has agreed to let sevens rugby enter the 2016 Olympic games. This is a huge stepping stone in the sport of Rugby since its finally being shown in today's modern setting which would benefit and grow the rugby community as well as profits.

Should video games be in the Olympics?

In 2008 there was a big push for video games to be put into the Olympic games in Beijing. Ted Owen the CEO of Global Gaming League(GGL), a media based company around the culture of video games was pushing for games to be in the Olympics. According to Owen, he says that "because gaming is world wide especially to the younger audience it could be the biggest push to the Games since snowboarding". He also argues that "People arn't watching the Olympics as they use to and the way to bring back views is to attract young people to continue to make profit". I fully support his ideas because hes completely right. We have an ageing population that doesn't seem completely interested in the Olympics they feel if anything it is a complete wast of tax pays money. If companies want to make a profit they have to market for younger people to bring them in and the best way to do that is introducing video games to the Olympics. From a companies point of view this is extremely profitable. Not only would the Olympics profit but the gaming industry. The gaming industry is always growing its one of the only industries that still continues to prosper and what better way to make even more money? That's right putting video games in the Olympics would generate even more game sales. Why is that? simple if the audience sees what kind of games the "pros" play such as Call of duty or Halo they would buy more of that game. Its an advertising in itself showing that if Olympic players play these games then it has to be good. From a gamer point of view its even better. Lets be clear video games don't take alot of physical actively anyone can play them. Unlike the Olympic athletes where you need to be in mint condition and you cant have any huge disabilities. Sure there is Olympics for disabled people but its not publicised to the same extent. If video games were introduced into the Olympics anyone can play even with disabilities it doesn't single out a very small group of people all you need is hand-eye coordination, team work and the will to win. So for gamers it doesn't single out, its competitive, fun and anyone can participate. So should video games be in the Olympics? I don't see why not. There is no downsides of them being introduced it benefits everyone the companies and the players. The gaming industry grows and gamers are getting the recognition for there skills its a win-win for everyone.

Are Drug Tests Actually Effective?

Every amature or professional sports player is always looking for a new way to give themselves some form of an advantage. This can range from state of the art equipment or a better training program; then there is the concept of performance enhancing drugs. A drug like Steroids provides the user with superior strength and endurance. These boosted attributes have allowed baseball players such as Barry Bonds the ability to become a legend, and break unbelievable records. There has been major speculation that even though athletes have failed drug tests, they were allowed to continue to play without penalty. There is reason to support this; take the recently retired Theron Fleurry for example, he failed multiple drug tests but was allowed to continue without punishment because he was one of the NHL's most popular players. This begs the question: who else has been given a free pass? If drug testing programs are so expensive then why are players who fail them allowed to go free? It's almost like these programs are brought in just to make it look like the leagues are being responsible. I guess they think what we don't know won't hurt us.

There is also the other side of the coin to consider. These "super athletes" can make some games more exciting, and bring in a larger fan base to a league. The credibility of the professional sports world may have been tarnished by the drug controversey, but it has also caused massive exposure and attention. In an economy such as this maybe any exposure is good exposure.

Are the Stanley cup finals a good investment?

Every hockey child dreams of one day hoisting the Stanley Cup over there head, it is the ultimate prize for one whose whole life has been devoted to playing a sport that they love. Unfortunately for the N.H.L it looks as though they have run into a bit of difficulty. The main problem is attracting American fans to watch the sport. It has also hit home with the recent Stanley Cup finals played between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. The N.H.L has no problem attracting fans from Canada to watch the sport but have found it more difficult to bring fans from the United States to watch the game.

There was recently some controversy regarding the N.H.L and the brodcasting station involved with the Stanley cup finals in the United States. NBC, the station who owned the rights to the Stanley cup finals asked the NHL to scheduale the second game of the Stanley Cup finals the day after the first game had been played. This was the first time such a thing had happened since 1954. But NBC did have a reason for such schedualing, they did not want to interfear with there primetime week night schedual, WHAT?! Yes thats right Conan O'Brian new weeknight show "The tonight show" had its first offical episode run that Monday night and NBC felt that Conan's show would be in higher demand than game 2 of the Stanley cup finals. They also had games 3 and 4 moved to another broadcaster as they felt the same of these games as well. So what is the logic behind this. Well it seems that hockey has just not caught on in America and the big broadcasters feel that it is not a good investment for them to move, or cancel shows to broadcast the finals of what is considered the biggest sport in Canada.

So how will the NHL deal with this? Well they could find another broadcaster in the States for there Stanley cup finals so that they do not have to base there scheduals around the scheduals of the broadcaster. If they also find a way to grow in the United States they could have more of a voice when they create there scheduals and hopefully will not be pushed aside for a 2 bit comedian whos been 10 years past his prime.

Could video games be considered a sport?

Video games are one of the biggest past-time actives around the world. May people play them for fun but many take gaming seriously and it gets very competitive to be the best. Video games also have there own league(Major League Gaming) which is free to join and is for all genres and systems. Anyone can make a group of people or friends to compete against each other to win prizes and money. It is very fun, competitive, skillful and team based. Games can be posted on players blogs along with screenshots and scores.

Studies say that at least 52% of all house holds have at least one video game consoles( Xbox, PS3, Wii,) not including PCs and PC gaming. Studies also say the average hours of video games played around the age of 25-34 is around 15-20 hours a week. The video game market is huge making annual revenue of 25 billion dollars in video game sales not including consoles sales.

Could video games be considered a sport? I would fully support yes. The definition of the word "sport" is being competitive, fun, and team work. Video games meet all that criteria. Anyone can play and compete which means it doesn't single out a specific group of people. You don't have to be an athlete to play and its free to join. On top of that company's make alot of money since games are advertised on all the sites and all the top rated games are played by the "pros". Video games is a growing market and will continue to grow, everyone benefits.

Are Salary Caps Always the Best Way to Go?

In most major sports leagues a salary cap system is implemented in order to prevent one team from spending way more money on players than another. The main idea of a salary cap seems like a great way to promote a sense of fairness amongst the individual teams. With a salary cap a team can no longer "buy a championship", like the Yankees try to do every year; at least that's what it's suppose to prevent. In some leagues like the CFL the salary cap acts as more of a guide line. If a team in the CFL decides to spend more than the cap permits, they will have to pay a slight penalty. Take the Saskatchewan Roughriders for example: they openly confirmed that they not only went over the cap, but they planned to all year. Their reasoning for this was that the extra money they would make by playing in the playoffs would more than cover the penalty charged for their actions. If this is allowed to take place then what's the point of using a salary cap system? It seems to me like a whole lot of wasted effort.

In other leagues like the NHL and NFL, salary cap systems have worked really well. In the NHL the cap has allowed Canadian teams to seriously compete with American teams, and their stronger dollar. Before the cap American teams were spending more and more money trying to build the best possible team. Canadian teams could not afford such ridiculous contracts. This meant that as American teams got stronger, Canadian teams got weaker and the NHL was on the verge of losing its core fan base. I guess it's really up to the situation, because if the league isn't willing to really enforce the salary cap, then there is no point in having one.

Chess Boxing? A Successful Hybrid?

Are you serious? Chess Boxing? This is the result you get when you mix brawn with brains. Chess Boxing became an official sport in Europe in 2001 and was created by Dutch Artist, Iepe Rubringh. He was inspired by the fictional ideas in a comic by French comic book artist and filmmaker Enki Bilal.

The World Chess Boxing Organization (WCBO) governs, monitors, and markets the sport throughout Europe in hopes of expanding it someday to overseas. In order to succeed and win the match, dominating in both aspects of the sport is needed. The matchup between two opponents consists of elven rounds which alternates with four minutes of chess(basically speed chess), 3 minutes of boxing, and lastly one minute of break so that they can change their equipment and yes, it is played inside a boxing ring. Competitors may win either through knockout, checkmate, or judge's decision, or if their opponent's twelve mintue of chess time elapses.

Now what does this have to do with business you say? Well WCBO's objective is to expand this hybrid sport overseas and establish it into today's market. But Rubringh's envisioned that maybe, just maybe, someday it will be considered as a game in the Olympics because it really forces you to mentally train your mind and physically get in shape.

Olympics: the Money Guzzler

When Vancouver won the bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2010 everything looked fine and dandy. It would help provide many people in the city with jobs and show how great of a city Vancouver can be. But what would happen once it ends and people are unemployed? Things aren't looking so great for the organizing committee in Vancouver due to the construction of the Vancouver House and two "live sites". The live sites are areas that will have big screens to watch the Olympics and pavilions where people could wander in free of charge to enjoy the festivities.

The live sites projected cost was suppose to be at $470 million but now the provincial and federal government had to invest another $55 million to keep up with the costs. Another issue arised when initially they needed $15 million to improve the facilities for it's building and managing but instead the figure turned into about $38 million. Lastly another building that is going to be built for the athletes to live inside during the duration of the Olympics was projected to be $750 million but once again increased to $875 million.

Now where will they get this amount of money from to upgrade and maintain these projects? by taxing the people more? Instead the government believes that in order to recover from these prices, they hope to resell the buildings and facilities for a market price that will give them back most of their money that they had invested in the beginning to companies or corporations. Hopefully this will turn out as the way they planned.